Prince Harry’s commitment to Oprah Winfrey’s docuseries ensured the TV talk-show host a lucrative contract with Apple. The Prince and Oprah co-produced and co-created the three-part documentary “The Me You Can’t See,” which premiered today on Apple TV+.

While Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were both serving members of the Royal Family, the series was first revealed in April 2019. It focuses on “mental illness and mental wellness, inspiring viewers to have an honest conversation about the challenges each of us faces,” according to the press release.

Prince Harry was said to have opted to have donations made to mental health charities in return for his participation in the show at the time.

“This is really significant because this documentary, they’ve been in talks for years about it,” royal commentator Richard Eden told Mail+’s Palace Confidential. “Harry had signed up to this long before they left the Royal Family and initially, it was for charity. It’s going to be very interesting to see whether Harry gives his big fee from this to charity.”

Members of the Royal Family who are employed are unlikely to take funds from private ventures, such as advertising endorsements or television interviews. They are funded by the Sovereign Grant and Crown Estate income.

“From what I know, Harry and Meghan thought ‘well wait a minute, Oprah’s getting all this money, we want part of that. Now they’re free to earn money from Apple too. It’s definitely one to watch”, said Richard Eden.

Oprah earned At Least $7 Million from Meghan Markle And Prince Harry interview

According to ad buyers who talked with The Wall Street Journal, CBS expects a large audience to turn in Sunday evening to see the network’s exclusive interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and the network is offering marketers a premium rate of around $325,000 for 30 seconds of air time during the broadcast. That’s about double what marketers would cost CBS for a 30-second spot in that time slot.

According to the Wall Street Journal, ViacomCBS is paying between $7 million and $9 million for the rights to broadcast the royal couple’s two-hour primetime interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Because of the strong demand for the interview—and the high cost to advertisers—CBS decided to make the show two hours long.

The multi-million dollar contract also gives the network the freedom to license the interview worldwide, according to the Journal. The interview will air on ITV in the United Kingdom on Monday at 9 p.m. local time.

According to the Wall Street Journal, CBS won the rights to air the interview, which was produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions. According to sources familiar with the deal who talked to The Journal, CBS paid a licensing fee of between $7 million and $9 million in exchange for the rights to license the special in foreign markets, including the United Kingdom.

According to the Journal, the deal was part of a contract between CBS and Winfrey’s production firm, Harpo Productions. Before settling with CBS, Harpo allegedly pitched the exclusive event to Comcast’s NBC and Walt Disney’s ABC.

Winfrey has a relationship with CBS, having served as a special contributor on the company’s “60 Minutes” unit for a short time. She also has a long-term friendship with Gayle King, a well-known CBS News anchor.